Emergency landing for a C-135 and two French Rafales in Malta (V2)
(B2) A French Boeing C135 tanker plane made an emergency landing at Malta International Airport after having a fault in one of its engines, Maltese media say.
The plane which belongs to the in-flight refueling group 02.091 Bretagne (according to our information) landed around 12:30 p.m. today followed by two Rafale planes (which it probably had to refuel).
On a mission (of observation?) in the Mediterranean?
Planes " were in operation in the Mediterranean “When the technical incident occurred on the tanker, indicate Maltese air sources without further details on the nature of the mission or the place. We can think that it was not just a tourist mission... If we look at the images from Maltese television, we see that the Rafales were equipped with missiles. One belonged - according to our information - to the 3rd Lorraine fighter squadron (3/30), the other to the second Normandie Niémen squadron (2/30). As for the missiles, they seem more like air-to-air missiles intended for the protection of aircraft against a possible air attack. We are rather in an observation mission which can have several ramifications, either above Libya (which seems more than likely), or in the Mediterranean (arms trafficking).
The Maltese aircraft carrier: always useful
This is not the first time that the Maltese island has been used as a backup airport for French planes. Despite its declared neutrality and its non-membership of NATO, the Valletta government has always been keen to lend assistance to its European partners, to the point that it has not deserved the nickname of "the aircraft carrier island of the Mediterranean. Last October, a private plane operating for the French defense crashed on takeoff killing five people including several agents (or former DGSE).
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
Credit: photo: TVM Maltese television
Read also: Crash of a plane operating for the French defense in Malta. 5 French killed (V4)
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We suspect that it is not a tourist mission, and fortunately still, at 40.000 euros per hour of flight…!
The missiles are an air-to-air infrared and electromagnetic (radar) self-defense equipment, quite usual and standard, therefore non-information.
On the other hand, the important information lies here in knowing whether, in the ventral position, a Rafale does not have, instead of a tank, a Pod recon ng Areos, which is relatively rare in opex, and in fact, in a way, a French U-2, on a spy mission, interrupted, so…?